‘Willing to lend a hand wherever and whenever he can’

Volunteer Connections Montcalm-Ionia celebrated service – and those who serve their communities – with an appreciation dinner Thursday evening at Belding High School.

Celebrate Service, the theme of National Volunteer Week this year, recognized ordinary people across the country who devote their time and talent to solving pressing problems in their communities, and motivating others to join them in serving.

Michael Carigon of Saranac was honored at the dinner as Volunteer Connection’s 2013 Volunteer of the Year. He received a certificate and a gift of a clock/picture frame.

Carigon, who was born and raised in Saranac and graduated from Saranac High School, was “humbled” to learn he had been selected.

“I know I’m pretty active in the community, and I wear many, many hats,” Carigon said. “I just like helping out the community.”

The program also paid tribute to volunteers from a variety of community programs, including the Basic Needs Committee, 2-1-1 Committee, Citizen Corps programs, Community Food Network, Ionia County Peace Community, Financial Literacy program, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and the United Way Montcalm-Ionia Counties.

The Lamplight Grill in Ionia and Huckleberry’s in Greenville supplied the main dishes for the dinner, and attendees brought side dishes to share. Cake decorating master Rosemary Reams provided the dessert.

Carigon was named Volunteer Connections’ first Volunteer of the Month in December 2012, recognizing his thousands of hours of training and volunteering with Montcalm-Ionia Medical Reserve Corps, Ionia County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Ionia County Skywarn, American Red Cross and many other organizations.

Locally, Carigon is a CERT member and recently passed the CERT train-the-trainer course. He served as Disaster Action Team leader and was the acting disaster duty officer lead for the Red Cross of the Greater Grand Rapids area. He is a member of Kent County Search and Rescue, doing radio operation for that team.

“Mike came to us as an amateur radio operator,” said Penny Beeman, also a member of the county’s CERT. “Through his work and a couple of others we know, we now have the ability to give the test and train others to be amateur radio operators. He always shares his skills and helps train and get more people involved.”

In the past year, Carigon took the class and testing to get his medical first responder license, “which is a big deal for our volunteers,” Beeman said.

When Carigon was deployed last fall to volunteer at a Red Cross emergency shelter in New Jersey for residents displaced by Hurricane Sandy, he responded to a medical emergency and used his cross-training to save a client’s life. By the time first responders arrived, he had applied CPR and used an automated external defibrillator (AED), and the client was beginning to regain consciousness.

Carigon served recently as the night shift manager for the Red Cross emergency shelter at the Ionia Armory for local flood victims, and filled in during the day as needed. That mindset is what stood out for the committee that chose him as the Volunteer of the Year.

“Mike was selected for his dedication and willingness to do just about anything thrown at him, his willingness to lend a hand wherever and whenever he can,” said Beeman, who also is the coordinator for Volunteer Connections. “He’ll take additional training, learn new skills, and then share what he has learned with other people around him.”

Carigon is almost always available to volunteer, said Roger Packard, coordinator of CERT, Emergency Service Volunteers of Ionia County.

“It’s a rare day when we have some need, on short notice, and say, ‘Mike, can you do this?’ and he can’t. Usually, it’s ‘Sure,’” Packard said. “With some volunteers, you have to twist arms. With Mike, it’s just ‘Where?’ He’s a good man and he serves a lot of people in a lot of capacities. He’s very well-deserving.”

Carigon said he especially enjoys hands-on types of volunteering, “mingling” with people, like he did at the flood shelter in Ionia, and getting the word out to the community that there is assistance available.

“When the (Red Cross) Disaster Action Team goes to house fires, and there’s a person in the yard, the house is smoldering, it’s the look on their face when the Red Cross pulls up, and they know that help is there,” he said.

“I enjoy what I do. Volunteering broadens your horizons, opens your mind up to different things,” said Carigon. “It’s opened my eyes up quite a bit.”